GOP must retake the soul of the nation, West says

Former U.S. Congressman Allen West brought his conservative message to Marion County Republicans during their annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner on Friday night.

By Carlos E. MedinaCorrespondent

Former U.S. Congressman Allen West brought his conservative message to Marion County Republicans during their annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner on Friday night.West, a popular conservative speaker and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, used Friday's 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy to call on all Republicans to fight for the principles on which the party was founded in 1854 in Jackson, Michigan."They said, the expansion of slavery is a violation of the basic fundamentals and constitutional principles on which this republic was established. They believed in the words of Thomas Jefferson when he said all men are created equal," said West, who is black.He said the party was established to fight for the freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all."See, that's your legacy. It's no different from the legacy of the men who landed on those beaches … who wanted to liberate an entire continent from tyranny," West said.But, he said, the party has allowed others to define them, others who West says have demonized the party to hide their own shame."We don't tell them that it was the other side that was the party of slavery, the party of secession, the party of segregation, the party of the Ku Klux Klan. They were the party of Jim Crow laws, they were the party of the literacy tests, the poll taxes. They were the party of lynchings," West said. "We don't tell Americans that the first black men to walk onto Capitol Hill as members of Congress and Senate were not Democrats, they were Republicans."After the fall of segregation, West said, the Democratic Party turned to expansion of government programs and welfare to win back the same people it once tried to disenfranchise. He blames those programs for decimating the American family, especially in the black community."Fifty years ago, the out-of-wedlock birth rate was 6 percent. Today, the out-of-wedlock birth rate is 42 percent. But in the black community, the out-of-wedlock birth rate is 72 percent. Why are we not taking our message into that community and talk about the breakdown of the thing that was the integral part of the black community: the family," West said.In his opinion, there is a war for the soul of the nation."We must stand up against this progressive socialism that has taken over the United States," he said. "This is an ideological war. If you lose an ideological war, you will lose a nation. You will lose what Abraham Lincoln called the last best hope for mankind, these great United States of America."Janet Carpenter was one of more than 200 people at the event, which was organized by the Marion County Republican Executive Committee. She was impressed with West's speech."He is a very knowledgeable man. I hope people listen. I hope everybody listens," she said.Don Schultz, president of the Republican Club of Ocala Palms, liked the message as well."He's a patriot. He loves this country so much, and he served this county well; and I tell you the truth, I wish he was in my district so I could vote for him," Schultz said.